God With A Capital "G" (Part 6 of 6) By Allan Turner (http://allanturner.com/)
"Jesus Christ Is The Same Yesterday, Today, And Forever"
Jesus is God. This is the basic meaning of the incarnation. In John 1:1, the Holy Spirit teaches that not only was the Word (i.e., the Logos) in the beginning with God, but the Word was God. In verses 14-34, we learn that the Logos became flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. And in a book written so that men would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing might have life in His name, Thomas, speaking of Jesus, exclaims, after seeing Him in His resurrected body, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). There are, of course, other passages that directly speak of Jesus as God, but since they are all disputed by some, we have not mentioned them. Nevertheless, the cited passages serve to demonstrate, to those who are willing to believe the Bible, that Jesus is, in fact, God.
Furthermore, the writer of Hebrews, telling us what God had prophesied about Jesus, writes, "But to the Son He says: 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever'" (Hebrews 1:8). Also, He clearly identifies Jesus as the Jehovah and Elohim of Psalm 102:25-27, who eternally existed before He created the heavens and earth (Hebrews 1:10) and who remains eternally the same (Hebrews 1:11,12), and, therefore, in the person of Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). To see in Hebrews 13:8 only a reference to the faithfulness of Jesus, and not a reference to His immutability, is, I think, a serious mistake. In fact, Jesus Christ's faithfulness is grounded in His changelessness. In other words, because He does not change ontologically (i.e., because He has always been the fullness of God that He is at this very moment), He has been, is, and always will be, completely and totally reliable. It is only in this sense that Jesus could identify Himself as the "I AM THAT I AM" or "He who is" of Exodus 3:14 (cf. John 8:58). When Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM," He used the aorist tense to describe Abraham's existence and the timeless present tense to describe His own existence, and thereby identified Himself as the self-existent, eternal, infinite, immutable God with a capital "G." Well has it been said: "Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God" (Psalm 90:1,2).
As difficult as it may be for finite creatures to even begin to comprehend, when the Divine Logos, or Son of God, became flesh (John 1:14), or, as the Bible says elsewhere, came in the likeness of man (Philippians 2:8), or was manifested in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16), He did not divest, give up, or have stripped from Him, His Deity. Within the man Jesus of Nazareth dwelt, and continues to dwell (for such is the meaning of the present tense), all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). In fact, from a Biblical standpoint, the historical Jesus is never understood apart from His embodiment as the self-existent, eternal, infinite, immutable God in time and space. And although it is true that a God divested of His Deity would still continue to exist, in truth, He would no longer be what He had been and, therefore, could not call Himself "I AM THAT I AM."
What Do We Really Want? by Ken Green (kengreen@kemperheights.com)
"It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn
Your statutes" (Psa 199:71).
"Why do bad things...?"
You know the question. It's been around for most of the world's
history. One Jewish rabbi wrote an international best seller on
it a few years ago: When Bad Things Happen to Good People. He
wrote out of a background and context of personal tragedy and
said a lot of good and helpful things. But I am persuaded that
he missed the boat in the conclusions that he drew. Harold Kushner
argued that God would like to eliminate the evil and suffering
in the world but he is just powerless to do so. The rabbi said
that Job was correct when he questioned the ability of God and
maintained his own sinlessness.
Such does not square with the biblical text. Here are the words
that Job addressed to his Maker after his great trial was finished:
"I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose
of Yours can be withheld from You. . . Therefore I abhor myself,
and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:2,6).
There is much about this theme that we will never comprehend in
this life. But one line of thought that may be profitably pursued
is this: What kind of life do we expect and desire in this world?
We understand that this is not heaven. So what would we ask for?
Would we want a world in which fire did not burn or water did
not drown or people did not break when they fell from a great
height? If fire did not burn, neither would it cook. Our eggs
would be extremely unpalatable served raw. Some of us like our
steak rare but not quite raw. If water did not possess the potential
of drowning someone, the very properties that make it useful and
essential to our lives would necessarily be altered. One could
continue this line of thought indefinitely.
But the response might be given: "No, no. We would not envision
such changes in the natural order as that. What we would really
desire is that good people not suffer. That's the question! Why
do bad things happen to good folks? If one is trying to live a
righteous life and be a Christian, why should he or she and their
family have to suffer?
Can we well imagine a world in which fire burned the ungodly but
not the godly? Where sinners drowned but water would not harm
the saints? Where the wicked suffered injury and death in accidents
but the bodies of the righteous were invulnerable to such? Where
the depraved contracted cancer and heart disease and all the illnesses
that plague our world, but the upright were immune to every bacterium,
virus and whatever else causes sickness? Where the families of
the un-churched experienced the traumas of unfaithfulness, divorce,
rebellious children, and debt, but the homes of the churched knew
only love and bliss? What if sinners found themselves making the
intermittent trips to the funeral homes and weeping over their
dead, but Christians never suffered such loss and bereavement?
They and their children and other loved ones just never died?
What if there really was a direct relationship in this world between
our faithfulness to God and the trouble we encounter? What if
we could unequivocally promise people peace, health and prosperity
if they just became Christians? There's no doubt that our efforts
at evangelism would zoom and our church growth would dramatically
escalate. But would this happen because people really loved the
Lord and desired to serve Him? Would the devil's taunt regarding
Job not prove true in the lives of a growing number? "Does
Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him,
around his household, and around all that he has on every side?
You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have
increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch
all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"
(Job 1:9-11).
Surely this is not what we would truly desire for this world.
I suppose that what we really want is that bad things will not
happen to me and mine. Let others suffer just so long as we are
left unscathed by the evil in the world. When it's put in those
terms, that doesn't sound very good either, does it?
The fact is that bad things happen in this world and they are as likely to happen to good people as to bad people. This is part of the reason that our hope is not in this world but is laid up for us in heaven (Col. 1:5). God allows suffering in this world to refine our character in preparation for eternal fellowship with God in the next world, which is far better and perfect (Job 33:13,19,29-30; 36:15,18,21; Ja 1:2-5,12). God may not remove the pain but he can give us a "song in the night" (Job 35:10) to bear it. Like Job, through the ordeal we may better learn of God's greatness, glory and mercy (Job 42:5, Ja. 5:11).
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"If things go wrong, don't go with them."
"Life is not a dress rehearsal."
"What one does is what counts and not what one had the intention of doing."
"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
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MONTHLY BIBLE READING: The Major and Minor Prophets
SUMMER LECTURE SERIES: July 13-18
Raising Kids Who Turn Out Right
Speaker: David Banning of Orlando, Florida
Sunday
The Good News About Raising Kids
Does It Take A Village?
It All Begins With Me
Monday - Friday
Overcoming The Pitfalls: (1) Problems With Peers; (2) Corrupt
Entertainment; (3) Materialism; (4) Sex Too Soon
Letters From Death Row
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